Page 50 of Courting the Dragon King

Then Elias breezed in through the door, putting a stop to the conversation. Gerard’s demeanour and expression immediately brightened.

Elias placed a hand on his husband’s arm. “Can you fetch us some wine? I’m parched.”

“The servants can bring us some,” Gerard said.

Elias leaned up and placed a kiss on Gerard’s cheek. “But you bring the best wine.”

“What? What are you talking about? I never bring wine.”

Elias kept staring at him. Gerard’s one good eye studied Elias’s face. It felt like some sort of silent communication was happening between the two.

Then Gerard nodded. “All right. I’ll be back in a minute.”

“Don’t forget to bring goblets!” Elias called out as he dropped down beside Wraith once more. “Now don’t you worry about Konrad.” He patted Wraith’s knee. “He can be such a grump at times. However, he is a good man beneath all that. But is it true?” He leaned towards Wraith.

Wraith really wasn’t used to people wanting to be this close to him.

“Is what true?” Wraith asked.

“Have you had sex with ghosts?” Elias dropped his voice to a whisper.

“I—” Wraith remembered Konrad’s reaction. The disgust and horror. His throat closed. He was about to lose the only friend he’d ever made in his entire life, and he’d only just gotten him!

Like a man about to be sentenced to death, Wraith nodded.

“Wow!” Elias exclaimed. “But how does that even happen?” There was no censure or revulsion in Elias’s tone. Just curiosity. Elias seemed very different to Konrad.

“Well, you know that I see ghosts,” Wraith said.

Elias nodded.

“Well, the first time it happened, I was about nineteen. This ghost had been in the Temple of the Veil for a while, but I’d never had anything to do with him. He just sort of was there, wandering around, passing through walls.”

Wraith could remember watching the tall, muscular spirit floating silently with a glare permanently on his face. He’d seemed so intimidating. Wraith had been too afraid to approach him to help him move on.

“Then one day, when I was going back to my room, he was at my door. He looked me up and down. He had this intense look in his eyes.” Wraith remembered the prickle of awareness that tingled along his skin. “Then he smiled and told me I was beautiful.”

“Well, that’s sweet.” Elias placed a hand on his chest.

Wraith ducked his head, a smile stretching his lips. “No one had ever called me beautiful before that moment.”

“Aw.”

Wraith hesitated. “Then he said he’d like to see me with less clothes on.”

Elias burst out laughing. “That’s less sweet and more forward. Was he handsome?”

“Very.” Wraith’s skin flushed. He could still remember those intense eyes watching him. “Anyway, he asked if he could watch me … do things whilst I was naked.”

Elias’s brows had risen so high. “And did you say yes?”

Wraith’s cheeks burned. He nodded. “Then whilst I touched myself, he would whisper to me.” He couldn’t believe he was telling someone this.

“What sort of things did he whisper?” Elias leaned even closer.

“He would tell me how lovely I was and so forth whilst I … did certain things.” The ghost had gone into a lot of detail on Wraith’s features and body parts, but Wraith could not bring himself to share that. “He told me what he’d like to do to me, and he instructed on what to do to myself.”

“But he couldn’t touch you, is that right?”